


A Journey of Two

by throwawaypotatoes24



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Ahtohallan River (Disney), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23360323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/throwawaypotatoes24/pseuds/throwawaypotatoes24
Summary: When Anna wakes up and notices something wrong, she immediately sets off to find her sister, Elsa. However, when the two sisters finally meet, Elsa tells Anna something that might just send the sisters off on a journey that they never asked for.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

A bright light pierced Anna’s eyelids. It made her very uncomfortable, and she shut her eyes even tighter, trying to block out the sunlight. Sunlight? Wait, that can’t be right, she clearly remembered going to sleep just a few minutes ago. Anna’s eyelids fluttered open and saw that every inch of her bedroom was bathed in sunlight. The sun had already been up for quite some time.

Anna stretched both her arms widely and gave a loud yawn. She definitely wasn’t ready to wake up just yet. Mornings were always the hardest for Anna, and they hadn’t gotten any easier ever since she had become Queen of Arendelle. Anna swung her feet off the side of her bed to stand up, and immediately drew her feet back up. The floor was cold. Ice cold.

‘That can’t be right. Winter has been over for a few months now, and even then, the floors weren’t this cold,’ thought Anna. She peered over the edge of her bed to get a better look at the floor. Apparently, it wasn’t the floor that Anna had stepped on. There was a small patch of ice, spread out across where Anna’s feet had just been seconds earlier.

Anna looked at the patch of ice with great curiosity. Carefully, she lowered one foot down again, and slowly stepped onto the patch of ice. She then got out of bed, now fully standing up. ‘That’s weird,’ Anna thought, ‘Why is there ice in my bedroom?’ She took a step forward and gasped. Another patch of ice formed underneath her foot. She took another step forward. Another patch of ice.

Anna was still trying to make sense of what was happening when something cold brushed against her cheek. She removed it with her finger and held it up to the light to see what it was.

“A snowflake?” Anna said out loud. She looked around her and noticed that several snowflakes were starting to form in mid-air, drifting slowly towards the floor – it was flurrying.

Anna’s thoughts suddenly drifted to her elder sister.

“Is Elsa trying to tell me something?” wondered Anna out loud. “I never knew that she could control her powers so far away from her. Maybe it’s something new that she can do.”

A dreadful thought entered Anna’s head. ‘What if Elsa is in trouble, and she’s trying to contact me for help?’

Anna was so preoccupied by these thoughts about her sister that she almost didn’t realise that it was now flurrying even harder. She looked down at her feet. The patches of ice now spreading across the room.

Anna wondered what all this meant. What was Elsa trying to do here?

‘Guess I’ll have to go see her to find out.’ She quickly got dressed and rushed out of her room, and into the hallway, where she bumped headfirst into a large figure with blonde hair.

“Anna!” Kristoff straightened himself up. “Where have you been? Kai has been looking all morning for you. Woah! Why is it snowing in your room? And why is the floor covered in - ” Kristoff stopped abruptly when he caught sight of the worried look on her face.

“Anna, are you alright?”

“Kristoff, I really don’t have time to explain. I have to see Elsa. Will you cover for me in the castle while I’m gone? Please?”

Kristoff gave his wife a worried look, but he knew that now was not the time to bog her down with questions. Whatever it was, it seemed urgent. “Sure, honey. Go see your sister. I’ll cover for you.”

“Thank you so much, sweetie! Oh, and I’ll need to borrow Sven as well!”

Anna hurried out of the castle before Kristoff could object to the abduction of his best friend. She was on her way to the stables when she heard a familiar voice call out to her, “Anna!”

Anna whirled around, and saw her elder sister getting onto the pier. She had clearly just gotten off the Nokk, which was now diving back into the water.

Anna ran over to her sister. “Elsa! There’s something I need to tell you!”

“Me too,” said Elsa.

Anna stopped to look at her sister. Elsa’s eyebrows were tied up in a knot, and she had her arms folded, the way she always did when she was feeling upset or nervous. Forgetting about her own problems, Anna asked, “Elsa? What’s wrong?”

Elsa looked away from Anna, and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Anna, I think I’ve lost my powers.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Anna stared at her sister. “Wait, what do you mean you lost your powers?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I just – I just can’t use my magic anymore.”

“No, that can’t be. You used your powers this morning, didn’t you?” asked Anna, giving Elsa a confused look.

Now it was Elsa’s turn to be confused. “What are you talking about? I couldn’t have used my powers, because I realised that I’d lost them the moment I woke up.”

Anna, still refusing to believe what she had just heard, persisted, saying, “Maybe you still have your powers, but you just don’t realise it. I mean, who else could’ve made it flurry in my bedroom?”

Elsa raised an eyebrow. “It flurried in your bedroom?”

“Yeah,” said Anna, “And not just that. There were patches of ice forming on the floor, too. I thought that you were in trouble or something, and that you were trying to signal me for help.”

“But, my powers can’t work so far away,” said Elsa as she gave an unintentional glance at her hands, as though hoping to get the answers she was looking for out of them.

“That’s what I thought too! But that was your magic I saw earlier. Trust me, I’ve seen it enough times to know what it looks like. You were probably just using it unconsciously.”

“Anna,” Elsa said slowly, in a tone that Anna knew only too well that it meant that Elsa didn’t believe her. “I’m telling you, I definitely did not cause it to flurry in your bedroom. For some reason I just woke up powerless. It’s no use trying to deny it.”

Frustrated, Anna said, “No, there has to be a logical explanation for this. If you didn’t use your powers, how did the ice and snow get into my room? Did someone else do it? Do you think there’s someone out there who’s just like you?”

“Anna –”

“I mean, ice doesn’t just naturally form when it’s not cold, right? I’m telling you Elsa, there’s something that we’re not seeing here.”

“Anna, I think I know who was responsible.”

“Who?”

“I think it was you.”

Anna looked incredulous. “What? Don’t be silly, Elsa. How could I have possibly –”

“Well,” interrupted Elsa, “You’re making what happened in your room happen again now. Look!”

As Elsa said that, Anna looked down. She was now standing on a patch of ice, similar to the one that was on her bedroom floor earlier that morning.

“Woah,” said Anna, when she saw the patch of ice continue to spread further and further across the town pavement. “Are – are you sure you’re not doing this?” she asked Elsa.

“No, Anna. I promise you that I’m not doing any of this. But you might want to stop whatever it is that you’re doing now, Anna. The ice is already almost at Oaken’s shop.”

“Uh, okay. You’ve done this plenty of times now, how do I stop it?” Anna’s tone was slightly worried now. Ice was now slowly crawling up the walls of “Oaken’s Cloakens”.

“Don’t think about the ice below your feet. Try concentrating on something else,” said Elsa.

Anna shut her eyes and tried to focus on something else.

‘Elsa,’ Anna thought, ‘If she can control her powers, so can I. Sure, initially she had trouble, like when she froze the whole fjord, but in the end she still managed to thaw it all out…’

Anna opened her eyes. Ice was now crawling up the walls of the houses of some of the citizens of Arendelle. People were stepping out onto their doorsteps to see what all the commotion was about, and they gasped in shock when they saw what was happening. Panic quickly settled into the atmosphere.

“Anna, you’re still not stopping,” said Elsa. “What are you concentrating on?”

“I was thinking about you, and how you could control your powers,” said Anna, “Then one thought lead to another, and…”

“And?”

“I remembered when you froze the whole fjord. I’m not going to freeze the whole fjord, am I?” asked Anna, who was now starting to panic. This only made things worse, as the ice spread even more rapidly. Some of the citizens had already started running in the opposite direction, screaming loudly for help. Panic was now turning into chaos.

Elsa looked around her. She had to do something, and fast.

“Anna, do you remember that time when you sacrificed your life to save me from Hans?”

“Uh, yeah. How could I forget?”

Elsa’s eyes darted quickly to the side. The nearest house was now fully coated in ice, effectively trapping its inhabitants inside. Time was running out. If Anna didn’t stop soon, the entire town would eventually be covered in ice. 

“Did I ever tell you how grateful I was?” continued Elsa, “Grateful that you were willing to die to save my life?”

“Elsa, you don’t have to do this again. You’ve already thanked me for this before. I know you would do the same for me as well,” said Anna, who was still rooted on one spot, not daring to move in case she made the ice spread even faster.

“I know, I know. But I don’t think that I told you how I really felt about what you did that day. You didn’t just save me from Hans that day. You saved me from myself as well.”

“What are you talking about?”

The ice was now slowing down. It was working.

“Anna, if you hadn’t left Arendelle and come up to look for me on the North Mountain that day, I don’t think that I would be standing here today. I probably would still be up there, afraid and all alone. You saved me from the fear that I was trapped in. And for that, I am truly grateful. I love you, Anna,” said Elsa as she looked earnestly at Anna.

Anna’s panicked look slowly faded away. She felt her heart swell up a few sizes. Anna had always known that Elsa was grateful that she had saved her life that day, Elsa had made sure of that, but didn’t realise that what she did that day meant so much more to Elsa.

But before Anna could open her mouth to say anything, Elsa exclaimed, “Anna, look!”

Anna turned her head to look all around her, and she saw that the ice had stopped spreading. Instead, it was now gradually receding, creeping off the walls and roads. The town was being thawed out. All around, the citizens of Arendelle heaved sighs of relief.

Anna felt someone grab her hands. It was her elder sister. Immense feelings of comfort and safety filled her insides. She always felt better when she was around her sister. She pulled her elder sister in for a hug.

“Thank you, Elsa. I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t stopped me.”

Anna looked to her elder sister, who was giving her a weird, confused look. “Elsa? What are you looking at me like that for?”

“You have my powers,” said Elsa.

“What? No, that can’t be, I mean –” Anna stopped abruptly. Now that all the excitement of the past few minutes had died down, the realisation of what had just happened began to dawn upon Anna. Her eyes widened in shock. She started rattling off a bunch of sentences in one go.

“Oh no! I have your powers! On the same day that you lost yours! That means - that means that I was the one who caused the flurry this morning, not you! Did I somehow accidentally take your powers from you? How do I give them back? Oh, Elsa, I’m so sorry, what are we going to do?”

Anna’s ramblings were met with a soft expression from Elsa. “It’s alright, Anna,” said the elder sister, “You don’t have to apologise for anything. It’s not your fault that any of this is happening.” She gave Anna a reassuring smile, who returned it with a rather sheepish one.

“Right, so, what are we going to do about this?” asked Anna. “We can’t let you stay powerless forever. We have to find a way to reverse whatever this is.”

“We have to tell someone about this,” replied Elsa, “And I think you and I both know who they are.”

“The trolls?”

“Yup, we’re going to see the trolls.”


	3. Chapter 3

The sisters made their way back to the castle to prepare for their journey to the Valley of the Living Rock. However, before they could even step foot into the castle, they were met with a distraught Kristoff, who had run out to meet them, with Olaf following closely behind on Sven.

“Anna! Elsa! Are you guys okay? Kai just told me there was a commotion going on at the town square. What happened?” asked Kristoff.

“Well honey,” began Anna, “I may have accidentally frozen a few houses back there, but it’s all good now, Elsa helped me, everything has thawed out now.”

Kristoff raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you were the one who froze the houses? Isn’t that kind of Elsa’s thing? No offence, Elsa.”

Elsa chuckled. “None taken.”

“No, I did that,” said Anna. “You see, Elsa doesn’t have her powers anymore, and – I kinda woke up with them.”

Kristoff stared at the both of them for awhile with his mouth wide open before he asked, “What? How?”

“Anna has powers now?” asked Olaf, jumping off Sven and giving the sisters a very intrigued look. “Interesting.”

Anna gave her husband a serious look. “Sweetie, we have find a way to fix this. So we’re going to see the trolls.”

“Alright then,” said Kristoff, “We’ll go pay them a visit. They’ll definitely know what to do about this.”

“Actually, when I said ‘we’, I was kind of thinking more along the lines of just me and Elsa,” said Anna, twiddling her fingers. “Arendelle will need at least one member of the royal family to be around in case anything happens. I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, it’s not that I don’t want you to come – ”

“It’s okay, Anna.”

Anna looked and saw that Kristoff was giving her a warm smile. “It’s alright. I completely understand. Don’t worry so much about Arendelle. Just make sure that the two of you stay safe, alright? You girls can take Sven if you’d like.”

Anna gave Kristoff a quick peck on the lips. “Thanks for understanding, sweetie. It’s okay, we won’t take Sven, I know how much he means to you. Elsa and I will take the royal horses instead.”

Olaf jumped excitedly into the air. “Alright! Another adventure!”

Both Anna and Elsa looked lovingly at Olaf, and then gave each other an understanding look. As much as they wanted to bring Olaf along, for some reason they both felt that it would be better if Olaf stayed out of this one.

“Olaf,” said Elsa tenderly, “Anna and I were thinking, maybe you should stay back and help out Kristoff. Besides, remember what you said after the last adventure that we had together? That you wanted a break from them for a while?”

“Hmm, that is true,” said the snowman, tapping on his chin, recalling his last adventure, which was their first visit into the Enchanted Forest. “Okay, I’ll stay back here in the castle. Besides, Sven promised that he would teach me how to play the lute.”

“Come on, Olaf, we both know that Kristoff is the fantastic lute player here,” said Kristoff in the voice that he would always use for his best friend.

“Nonsense! Quit being so modest, Sven!” replied the snowman. Anna and Elsa couldn’t help but giggle as they saw the look of exasperation on Kristoff’s face.

After packing the things that they would need for their journey, the gang was now standing in front of the royal horses, Havski and Fjora. Both Anna and Elsa mounted their horses, and after saying one last goodbye to Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven, they kicked off and rode away, rapidly leaving Arendelle behind.

It wasn’t long before the two of them were no longer in Arendelle territory and were now riding out into the wide-open pastures. Anna slowed Havski down to a slow trot, and Elsa, who was riding alongside her, did the same with Fjora.

“I never imagined that we would be seeing the trolls again so soon,” said Elsa.

Anna snorted. “I know, right?” She knew too well what her elder sister meant. Of all the occasions that they encountered the trolls, not a single one had failed to be paired up with a life-changing event, the most recent one being the time when Elsa was hearing a voice that was calling out to her. Another occasion was when her whole family had gone down to see the trolls, the time when Elsa had accidentally struck Anna with her powers. Of course, Anna didn’t have any recollection of that, it was Elsa who told her what had happened that night. It was the night that marked the beginning of a life of being shut out, a life filled with secrets.

Anna suddenly remembered something that she had meant to ask her sister earlier.

“Elsa?”

“Yeah?”

“Earlier today, when I lost control of my powers at the town square, did you really mean the things you said to me? You weren’t saying them just because you thought that they would calm me down, right?” asked Anna nervously.

The elder sister seemed taken aback by this question, but quickly replied Anna with a loving expression on her face.

“Of course I meant those words, Anna. If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t even be here having this conversation with you right now. I mean it. You saved me that day, and don’t you ever let anyone else tell you otherwise.”

Anna smiled at these words from her sister. She felt her heart grow the way it did back at the town square again. She loved feeling appreciated, and not being shunned away. It was hard for her, growing up with secrets being kept from her by her entire family, treated as though she were not capable of handling the truth. She absolutely hated that feeling, because it made her feel like she couldn’t be close to those she that she loved, as though there were an invisible wall between them. But things were a lot more different now. She was reunited with her sister, and she had Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven. She wouldn’t let the old memories haunt her anymore. No more.

The two sisters continued to talk to one another, taking it in turns to share with the one other what they’d been up to that week.

“I mean, I knew I was going to have a lot of work to do as Queen, but I didn’t expect it to be that much!”

“It’s alright, you’ll get used to it.”

“So, I’m guessing that you’ve been pretty busy in the Enchanted Forest too, huh? That’s the second games night you’ve missed this month.”

Elsa paused for a short moment before going on to say, “Yeah, ever since the mist left the forest, there’s been a fair bit of work to do down at the Northuldran camp. I’m really sorry about missing games night though, I know how much you look forward to them.”

“Oh, it’s fine, you’ve got work to do, I’ve got work to do as well. I’m sure we’ll be able to find a time where everyone is free,” said Anna.

However, it wasn’t fine. Anna couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed at her sister for not being able to make time for their weekly family tradition. If she, busy as she was with her queenly duties, could make time for it, Anna was positive that Elsa could too if she tried hard enough. But, giving her elder sister the benefit of the doubt, Anna chose not to say anything.

‘Maybe Elsa will finally be free to come over for the next games night,’ Anna thought to herself.

They were both so deep in conversation that they almost didn’t realise that they had arrived at the Valley of the Living Rock when they heard a familiar voice cry out.

“Anna! Elsa! How nice of you to drop by!”

Anna and Elsa got off their horses and were immediately greeted by Bulda, who ran towards them and grabbed both their hands.

“Oh! I didn’t expect that we would be seeing you two so soon,” said Bulda as she pulled Anna downwards and tugged at her cheeks to inspect her face, and later did the same with Elsa. “Come on out guys! Anna and Elsa have come to visit us!”

One by one, rocks of all shapes and sizes rolled up to the sisters, and the trolls leapt up onto their stubby little feet to greet their visitors. All at once, the trolls fired a thousand questions.

“How’s the new Queen of Arendelle doing?”

“What’s it like living in the Enchanted Forest?”

“Hey, where’s Kristoff?”

“And Sven?”

“And that odd talking snowman?”

The siblings answered all these questions with great difficulty as they wrestled with the excited troll children that were getting heavier and heavier with each visit. Finally, when they managed to put the last of the troll children back on the ground, Elsa spoke up.

“Bulda, we’re really happy to see all of you again, but we really need to speak with Pabbie, it’s important.”

Bulda, sensing the urgency in the Snow Queen’s voice, nodded and hurried off without another word. She came back minutes later, with Grand Pabbie following closely behind.

The Troll King approached his visitors, looked from Anna to Elsa and said with a crooked smile, “Judging from our previous encounters, I would be surprised if you two came here just because you missed us. What seems to be the problem?”

“Long story short, Elsa has lost her powers, and I have them instead, well, it’s not really that long of a story now that I think about it,” said Anna.

“You have Elsa’s powers?” asked Grand Pabbie.

“Yeah, look!”

Anna held up one hand, and concentrated hard, scrunching her face up in the process. At first, nothing happened. Then, a tiny blue light began to form just above Anna’s raised palm. The blue light grew in intensity, and then burst into tiny snowflakes all around, causing the troll children to jump up and down in the air, trying to catch them.

“Pretty cool, huh?” asked Anna, as she looked around her to admire the beauty of what she had just done. It wasn’t everyday that she had ice powers.

“What’s wrong, Pabbie?” asked Elsa.

Anna looked down and saw that Grand Pabbie was looking at her with a grave expression.

The troll sighed. “Anna, there are only two ways in which one may come into possession of magical powers. Either you’re born with them – ”

As he was saying it, Elsa’s eyes widened in horror as she remembered what Grand Pabbie had said to her family during the first time she visited the trolls, and she finished the rest of the sentence for him.

“Or you’re cursed with them.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Cu – Cursed?”

“Yes Anna, cursed,” replied Grand Pabbie.

“But – but why would I be cursed? I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?” asked Anna.

“I can’t say for sure, but seeing as this curse involves Elsa as well, where exactly were the two of you last night?” asked Grand Pabbie.

Anna answered immediately. “I was at the castle, and Elsa was in the Enchanted Forest, right Elsa?”

“Yeah,” Anna noticed that Elsa was folding her arms as she said it.

“What does this have to do with me getting Elsa’s powers anyway?” asked Anna.

“To my knowledge, when a transfer of magic occurs between two people,” said Grand Pabbie, “both parties involved must be in close proximity for it to happen.”

Anna furrowed her eyebrows into a knot. She was slowly losing her patience. They needed to know how to undo this spell, and they were getting nowhere.

“But Elsa and I weren’t anywhere near each other last night, so how could this have possibly happened? I mean, there has to be an explanation, right?”

“I’m sure there is,” said Grand Pabbie, “But unfortunately, I am unable to give you one. I’m sorry, Anna. However, I do know someone –”

The Troll King stopped midsentence and looked around.

“Something’s wrong.”

The surrounding temperature had dropped drastically. Elsa, who was now feeling chilly, had a hunch about what was going on, and turned to look at her sister. She saw that the three of them were now standing on a sheet of ice, which was coming from where Anna was standing. The troll children, who were lolling about nearby, saw this as a fun opportunity and started sliding around on it, squealing with laughter.

“Um, Anna? You might want to calm down a bit. You’re doing it again.”

“Huh? Oh, right, sorry about that, let me just –”

Anna glared fiercely at her feet, concentrating with all her might to vanish the ice.

‘Go away. Disappear. Melt. Unfreeze.’

Nothing happened. She was starting to become frustrated with herself.

‘Why is this so hard?’ she thought to herself. She began to have a newfound respect for Elsa, who always seemed to have everything under control, no matter the situation. She, on the other hand, would almost always lose her cool and panic even at the smallest of things. 

“I can’t do it, Elsa. I just can’t control these powers like you can.”

“You know, Anna, I never really learned how to properly control my powers until you taught me something very valuable, remember? Love. Love will thaw. And you’re the one person that I know who is so full of love that it probably could thaw out the whole world if you needed to. You can do this, Anna.”

Anna looked at her elder sister and gave her a nod. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

‘Love will thaw, love will thaw, love will thaw…’ Anna repeated in her head over and over again, only daring to open her eyes when she finally heard her sister say, “You can open your eyes now, silly.”

She opened her eyes and saw that all the ice had gone. The surrounding temperature wasn’t unusually cold anymore.

“I did it.”

“You did it. I’m proud of you, sis.”

Anna threw her arms around Elsa and hugged her tightly.

“Thank you for believing in me.”

“After all that you’ve done for me, I will always, always be here for you when you need me, just like you were there for me.”

“Ahem.”

The two sisters broke away from their hug, only to see Grand Pabbie half-smiling at them.

“I’m really sorry to be intruding on your moment, but as much as love enables you to control your powers, Elsa, I’m afraid it might only serve as a temporary solution for Anna.”

“Why is that so?” asked Elsa.

“Because in Anna’s case, her powers did not come naturally, so natural forces such as love can only do so much to control it. And I’m afraid to say, unless the two of you find a way to undo this curse, Anna’s powers will continue to grow until it overwhelms her, and eventually consume her.”

A lightbulb went off in Anna’s head.

“Ahtohallan!” she exclaimed, causing Grand Pabbie and Elsa to jump.

“What about Ahtohallan?” asked Elsa.

“Wasn’t that place said to be the source of your magical powers? Remember Mother’s note on the map we found on their ship? Why don’t we go to Ahtohallan and see if there are answers for us there?”

Elsa seemed hesitant. “Uh, I’m not so sure about that. Pabbie, weren’t you about to say something earlier?”

Anna was confused. Didn’t her idea make sense? Why didn’t Elsa want them going to Ahtohallan? The thought of Elsa hiding something from her slowly began to creep up on her again, like a monster in the dark, waiting to pounce on its unsuspecting prey. Her heart ached at the thought that Elsa was shutting her out again.

‘No,’ she told herself. ‘We’re way past that, we don’t keep things from each other anymore. Elsa wouldn’t do that to me again. I’ll just have to trust her judgment.’

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Anna now turned her attention to Grand Pabbie.

“I may not be able to help you, but I do know someone who might. His name is Mimir, the Smartest Man Alive. If half the stories that I hear about him are true, he should be able to give you the answers that you seek.”

“Great! Where can we find this Mimir?” asked Anna.

“You will have to travel south. When you find the Well of Wisdom, you should also be able to find Mimir.”

“Wow, Smartest Man Alive, Well of Wisdom, it’s kinda starting to sound like this Mimir guy is made up, doesn’t it?” said Anna, laughing at her own joke. But when she saw that Grand Pabbie was not laughing, she stifled her laugh at once. “Oh, you’re being serious. Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright,” said Grand Pabbie. “Many others also do not believe that such a man exists, which is why only few are able to reap the benefits of his wisdom.”

“So we travel south,” said Elsa with a determined look on her face, “find Mimir, and he will be able to tell us how to undo the curse?”

Grand Pabbie nodded. “If anyone can help you, it’ll be Mimir. But be warned,” he added, “I’ve heard that his methods of teaching can sometimes be rather, unconventional. Just be sure that the two of you have your wits about with you.”

*

The next day, after staying the night with the trolls because it had gotten too dark to travel, Anna and Elsa said their thanks to the trolls, and after graciously accepting Bulda’s rock cakes which she practically forced upon them (Anna made a mental note to ‘accidentally’ drop the literal cakes of rock as soon as they were no longer in sight of the trolls), the sisters began their journey southwards. 

As they were travelling, Anna thought that she might as well use the time to learn a little bit more about her powers, and what it felt like to have them.

“Do you always get this weird feeling when you use your magic?”

“You mean like there’s something inside you that’s just bursting to come out, and when it finally does, you feel some sort of soothing release? All the time.”

“Wow, so this is what it feels like to be you.”

Elsa sighed. “Yeah. That was how I used to feel.”

Anna looked at Elsa, who looked crestfallen. “Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Come on, tell me what it is.”

“Anna, it’s really nothing –”

“Elsa, please.”

Elsa looked up into Anna’s eyes, which were filled with worry. She took a deep breath before saying, “It’s just that, I’ve had my powers for my whole life now, to the point where I’d gotten used to them, you know. They were an extension of who I am. But now that I’m powerless, I can’t help but feel like a large part of me is gone. I just don’t feel like, me anymore.”

The younger sister couldn’t help but feel helpless at what she had just heard. There she was, all excited about having powers for the first time in her life, that she didn’t stop to think about how all this was affecting Elsa. This was, after all, a problem involving the both of them. She took Elsa’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I’m – I’m sorry, Elsa. I didn’t realise that’s how you were feeling.”

“It’s alright, Anna, I’m not blaming you for anything,” said Elsa, giving her sister a half-smile.

Looking at her sister, Anna was suddenly filled with a determination that wasn’t there before. She looked Elsa straight in the eyes and said, “I promise you that we’ll find a way out of this. Together.”

Elsa nodded. “Okay. Let’s go find the Smartest Man Alive.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realise this chapter would turn out so long! Enjoy!

Anna groaned loudly for what seemed to be the thousandth time. “Ugh, where is this stupid well? It has been two days, and we have yet to find a well!”

Elsa closed her eyes and let a gust of air escape her nostrils. Even when they were children, Anna had never really been the patient type. “Pabbie told us to travel south, so if we keep on going, we should eventually find the Well of Wisdom.”

Anna tossed her head back to look up at the cloudy skies, and huffed. “It better be some special well. I mean, why a well? This Mimir dude is supposed to be the Smartest Man Alive, right? So, why choose to be associated with a well for his wisdom? Why not something like, I don’t know, a library? The Library of Wisdom. Yeah, those buildings seem like they could house a smart person. What’s a well good for? Most people have running water from taps nowadays anyway. If you ask me, going to a well every day just to draw water doesn’t sound like a very smart thing to do –”

“Shh, shh, Anna.”

“Don’t shush me while I’m talking, that’s rude.”

“No Anna, look! I think we’re finally here.”

When Anna looked in the direction that Elsa was pointing, which was towards the foot of a hill, all expectations of a grand well seemed to crash and fall before Anna. Instead, she found herself approaching the most tattered and worn-out well she’d ever seen in her life, and that was including pictures of wells she had seen in books. The well seemed oddly out of place. There were no houses nearby, no stables, no farms. Nothing. It was just a well in the middle of nowhere.

“That’s –” said Anna, barely able to conceal her disappointment, “– the Well of Wisdom? Oh, we are so screwed.”

“I don’t understand,” said Elsa, dismounting Fjora, “Mimir’s home should be close by, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else in the area. Where could he be?”

“Maybe this isn’t the well we’re looking for?” asked Anna tentatively.

“Maybe. But this is the only well that we’ve encountered during this entire trip so far. And who knows if we will see another one again. I have a feeling that this is it. This is the Well of Wisdom. I’ll go up to see if anyone lives on the other side of this hill.”

“Why don’t I go with you?” said Anna quickly. She was uncomfortable at the thought of being separated from her sister and being left alone. Experience has taught her that it could only end so well.

“Don’t worry Anna, I won’t go far. I’m only going to the top and back again. It’ll only take a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay,” said Anna reluctantly.

As soon as she watched her sister take off on Fjora, Anna turned her attention back to the well. She circled it, taking in every aspect of it. As she walked around the well for the third time, she suddenly noticed something odd.

‘Hey,’ Anna thought to herself, ‘where’s the bucket?’

The rod at the top of the well was wound with rope, but nothing else was attached to the other end of it. It was just dangling over the well, its frayed ends swinging gently in the wind. Anna walked closer to get a better look.

‘Hmm, the rope must’ve snapped.’

She peered over the edge and looked down into the well. It went down a very long way, and at the very bottom, Anna could just barely make out the surface of the water below, mirroring the clear skies above. Except for the fact that it was pretty cloudy that day.

“What in the world?” said Anna out loud, looking down again into the well, and then back up at the sky, and then back down into the well again. Goosebumps started to crawl up her skin. Something about this well seemed strange to her. She was pulled out of her own thoughts by the sound of approaching horse hooves.

“There’s nothing on the other side as well,” said Elsa as she jumped off Fjora and gave her a loving pat on the nose. “Found anything interesting while I was gone?”

“Yeah! Check out this freaky well!” Anna pulled Elsa close to the well and pointed out the weird reflection at the bottom.

“Woah,” said Elsa, “that is weird.”

Out of nowhere, the words just came out from Anna’s mouth. “I think – I think that we should climb down to look for Mimir.”

“Climb down – Anna, what makes you think we should climb down? It’s dangerous, and who knows if Mimir is even there?”

“Come on, Elsa, think about it. Why would there be a well out here in the middle of nowhere? It doesn’t make any sense. Plus, that weird reflection in the water still gives me the creeps every time I think about it. I just – I just have a really strong feeling about this, and you’ll have to trust me on it. You trust me, right?”

Elsa was silent for a moment. “I trust you. So, how are you planning on getting down to the bottom?”

Anna inspected the well again. “It’s definitely too deep for us to jump down without breaking anything, and this rope over here looks too fragile to hold any of us, even if we were to go one at a time. I was thinking maybe I could use my powers to create some sort of makeshift staircase to go down safely?”

Elsa pursed her lips together, thinking about the idea Anna had just presented. “Okay, that could work. Let’s do it.”

Anna took a deep breath. “Alright, here goes nothing.”

‘I want to build a staircase.’ She concentrated hard on this thought, put her arms out in front of her, and gave her wrists a gentle flick forward. Anna shut her eyes tightly, not daring to see if she had succeeded or not.

“Hey, you’re really getting the hang of this,” said Elsa, “But next time try thinking about making the stairs go down into the well instead.”

“Huh? What are you talking about –” Anna opened her eyes and stopped talking at once. She smacked her forehead when she saw that although she had been successful in creating a beautiful set of stairs, they were leading upwards and away from the well, and not in the direction that they wanted to go.

“Darn it, you have to think about the direction as well!” said Anna to herself, as she vanished the stairs in front of them.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Anna, you are still pretty new to this. Let’s just try again.”

Anna smiled at Elsa’s encouragement. Concentrating hard on where she wanted the stairs to lead to, she threw her hands out in front of her again and flicked her wrists. 

“Yes! Got it on the second try!” She pumped both her fists into the air and gave her sister a triumphant look, which Elsa returned with a smile. “Nice work, Anna.”

Carefully, Anna and Elsa made their way down the stairs, spiralling deeper into the well. Elsa, who was leading the way, stopped when they finally reached the bottom, with Anna right behind her. They were now standing just an inch above the surface of the water. It was oddly still, and no matter how hard they tried to peer into it, all they could see was still the reflection of a clear sky.

“What now?” asked Anna, leaning over her sister’s shoulder to get a better look at the mysterious reflection.

“Hmm,” said Elsa, “Maybe there’s a hidden entrance. Try pressing against the walls and see if anything happens.”

Luckily for them, the well was relatively narrow, and they could reach the walls surrounding them fairly easily. Not so lucky, however, was the fact that there appeared to be no secret entrance.

“Got anything?” asked Anna.

“Nothing,” replied Elsa, “Looks like there’s only one place left to go…”

The two looked down again into the water, its eeriness still looming over them.

“There’s no way to tell for sure how deep it is,” said Elsa, not taking her eyes off the water, “I’ll go first.”

“What? No –” Anna began to protest, but was quickly cut off by her sister.

“Anna, listen to me –”

“No, listen to me! I get that you’re my elder sister and you want to protect me and all. But things are different now. You don’t have your powers anymore, I do. Let me go first.”

Elsa took one look at Anna, saw the fiery determination she had in her eyes, and sighed. There was no talking her sister out of this. She took a step back to allow Anna to get in front of her.

“You’re right. But be careful, okay?”

Anna smiled at her. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Anna stood over the water, her heart beating rapidly. She had no idea what was about to happen next. How deep was the water? Was there a dangerous creature in the water? What if the water was poisonous to the touch? What if she drowned?

No, she couldn’t let these thoughts cloud her now. Right now, all she needed was answers on how to undo the curse. Answers she would only get from Mimir, who was probably somewhere at the bottom of the well. She had to do it. She took a deep breath, and jumped into the water.

Anna felt her body enter not a body of water, but a pool of nothingness. She opened her mouth to scream, but her throat had gone dry. As she free-fell through the darkness, she noticed that she was still perfectly dry, which was odd, considering the fact that she had just jumped into water. She heard her sister’s cries trail after her.

“Anna!”

Her attention now turned to her sister. Was Elsa okay? But Anna couldn’t do anything about it now. She was falling, probably to her death, and could do nothing about it. Just as the reality of it all started to hit her, she felt something soft and rubbery cushion her fall. She heard a soft thud as her sister landed beside her.

“Anna! Are you hurt?”

“Apart from the fact that I thought that I was going to fall to my death? Yeah, I’m fine. What just happened?”

Elsa looked up. “I think we just fell through a portal of some kind.”

Anna looked up as well, and saw a shiny circle high up above them. Even now as she squinted her eyes, Anna could just barely make out the reflection of clear skies that they had seen in the mysterious water just moments earlier.

“Woah, a secret portal? Cool!” exclaimed Anna as she stood up to brush herself off. “What are we standing on? It’s so dark that can’t see – hang on.” Anna raised one arm, opened her palm so that it was facing upwards, and produced a blueish glow that was often associated with her magic. “Much better.”

Although the glow of her magic was dim, it was just enough so that the both of them could now see that they were standing on an intricate weave of long, green tentacles. Elsa bent down to examine them. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this before, they look like roots of some kind.”

“Whatever it is, they just saved our butts. Where do you think we are?” asked Anna as her attention now shifted to their foreign surroundings, which wasn’t much of a sight. All around her was an inky black darkness, the only thing that they could see was the roots they were standing on.

“Anna look! It looks like the roots lead somewhere.”

True enough, the dark green tentacles that they were standing on seemed to be crawling into a small tunnel. However, they could not tell where the roots lead to, because they were quickly swallowed up by the darkness ahead.

“Do you think we should follow them?” asked Anna apprehensively.

“We don’t really have much of a choice, do we?”

Anna looked around again and bit her lower lip nervously. Elsa was right. They could either follow the roots to see where they went, or wander around aimlessly in the impenetrable darkness. The former seemed like a way better idea to her.

“I guess so.”

“Come on, we’ve got to stick together,” said Elsa as she reached out and grabbed Anna’s free hand. Anna held on tightly, not wanting to part with her sister even for a second. It would be impossible to find each other again if they were to be separated here.

The sisters slowly made their way through the dark, stopping every now and then only to check if they had strayed away from the roots, which was now their only guide. As they were walking, Elsa couldn’t help but notice that Anna seemed a little tensed up.

“Are you okay?”

“What? Me? Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“Well you don’t look fine to me. Something is bothering you. What is it?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it…”

“Anna, after all those times that you’ve made me share things with you, I think you should be able to share stuff with me as well. Come on now, spit it out,” said Elsa in that gentle tone, as though she were comforting a scared animal.

Anna sighed. “It’s just that, being here, it sort of reminds me about that time when I was all alone in that cave. That was the time when Olaf had flurried away from me in my arms, the time I thought that I’d been separated from Kristoff for good, the time that –”

Anna paused for a moment to catch her breath, and continued, her voice now shaking. “– the time that I thought you had died trying to cross the Dark Sea, and that I would never get to see you again. All the people that I’ve ever loved were just taken away from me like that. I felt like I had no one else in my life. I felt – I felt truly hopeless in that cave.”

Elsa felt her heart being torn out from her when she heard her little sister’s voice crack at the end of her sentence. Anna had never told her in this much detail about what she had gone through in the cave that day.

“Anna, I –” Elsa felt a lump in her throat as tears began to blur her vision. How could she possibly have put her sister through all this? All Anna wanted to do that day was help her, yet she still found a way to push her away. “I’m so sorry I pushed you away that day. If I had known better –”

“Elsa.”

She drew a sharp breath and looked at Anna, and was surprised to see her smiling, albeit with tears in her eyes.

“I’m not blaming you for anything. It had to happen, didn’t it? I mean, if you hadn’t sent me and Olaf away, you may not have made it to Ahtohallan and discovered the truth about the past, and that would mean that both the people of Arendelle and the Northuldra would have no future. So, even though what I went through that day was horrible, it did shape me to be a stronger person.”

“But, but –” Elsa tried her best to get the words out from her mouth, but they never came. Anna pulled her sister in and embraced her tightly.

“I’m serious, Elsa, I’m not mad at you. Don’t beat yourself up too much about it. I love you too much to be able to hold a grudge against you.”

“I love you too,” Elsa managed to choke out between her tears.

*

They continued to walk for what seemed like hours in the dark, occasionally interrupting the heavy silence with speculations about where they were.

“You know, we might be in another dimension,” said Anna, “Pretty cool if you ask me.”

Elsa pursed her lips together and furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought. “No, that can’t be. We probably just fell into a hidden set of tunnels which no one has ever found for a long time.”

Anna opened her mouth wide in disbelief. “You had magical ice powers, but aren’t open to the possibility that there may be another dimension?! Come on now, Elsa, you have to at least say that it’s probable.”

“Fine,” Elsa chuckled, “it’s possible.”

Anna rolled her eyes and smiled. She never grew tired of these little banters she had with her sister.

“Hey,” said Anna, who had now put on a serious expression, “can you see that light at the end too?”

Just up ahead of them, was an archway emitting different colours of light. In their excitement, the two sisters began to run towards the archway, and soon they found themselves shielding their eyes from the sudden increase in brightness as they ran through the archway and into a large opening.

As soon as their eyes adjusted, they saw that they had run into one of the most beautiful orchard-like areas they had ever laid their eyes upon. All around them were exotic plants which they found out to be the source of the colourful bioluminescence, plants which have probably never seen the light of day. Creatures like nothing of which they’ve seen before eyed their new visitors suspiciously on the surrounding rocky walls, which arched into a high ceiling above them,

Anna spun her head around, wanting to take in as much of this mysterious yet beautiful scenery as she could, when she heard her sister say, “Anna, look!”

Right at the centre of the orchard, stood an old, bent tree. Lengthy vines hung from its branches, emitting a greenish glow. It looked like just about any other tree, except for the fact that there was a head sticking out in the middle of the trunk.

Both Anna and Elsa gasped in unison.

“Mimir.”


	6. Chapter 6

Anna narrowed her eyes, looking at the head suspiciously.

“Wow, I can’t believe Pabbie forgot to mention that he was just a head.”

Elsa said nothing, but boldly went closer to get a better look. She guessed that he was asleep, judging by the fact that both his eyes were closed, and that she could hear a slight snore coming from him. Protruding out from the top of his head were two horns, which had strange, intricate patterns etched onto them. He also had an untidy grey beard, which would reach his chest if he had one, thought Elsa.

Elsa narrowed her eyes as something on the crown of Mimir’s head caught her eye. At first, she thought that they were just normal tattoos, but as she looked closer, the tattoos that went around his head gave her a weird sense of familiarity.

“Hey…” said Elsa, “do these look familiar to you?”

“They look like the strange symbols we saw on the papers we found on Mother and Father’s ship!” exclaimed Anna, who had also bent down next to Elsa to get a better look at the head. In fact, the two were so intrigued by Mimir that they didn’t realise exactly how close they had been standing to him, until he opened his eyes.

“ARGH!” screamed Anna and Elsa as they stumbled a few steps backwards.

“Who goes there?” asked the head, blinking his eyes to wake himself up.

At first, nobody said anything, because they were too preoccupied with the fact that Mimir only had one eye, a glowing one, to be precise. Finally, Elsa found the courage to speak up.

“My name is Elsa, and this is my sister Anna. We’ve come to see you because we need your help.”

“Help, you say? Well, I’d definitely be more than happy to help out in any way that I can of course, but first, I think a little more introduction is in order, don’t you think?” said Mimir with a crooked smile.

“We’re from the royal family of the kingdom of Arendelle,” began Elsa, but before she could continue any further, she was cut off.

“Royal family of Arendelle? You must be Runeard’s granddaughters then, given how long it has been!”

Anna blinked. “That’s – yeah, he was our grandfather. How do you know about him?”

“Runeard came to me to ask for my help, something about wanting to know how he could weaken the lands of people, and so I told him that the best way to do that would be to block up the land’s waters. Although I must say, I had my suspicions about him at the time, but I didn’t really ask too many questions. Little did I know, his intentions were sour, but by the time I found out, it was already too late.”

“So you were the one who caused the people of Arendelle and the Northuldra to not be able to live together in harmony!” exclaimed Anna.

“That seems a little harsh now, doesn’t it? Putting all the blame on me like that. Like I just said, I helped Runeard based on what I knew at that time. Although I do regret not searching him for his true intentions the moment that I sensed that something was off before helping him. And so I made a vow to myself to never let such a thing happen again.” As Mimir said this, he looked towards ground, avoiding eye contact with them.

Anna’s expression softened. “Alright, I’m sorry if I was being too hard on you. Besides, that problem has been solved anyway.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“How?”

“I may be stuck in this tree, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have friends that bring me news from all over,” said Mimir as he looked all around them. They followed his gaze, but all they saw were little silhouettes creeping back into the shadows. “Anyway, what seems to be the problem?”

The sisters took it in turns to tell Mimir what happened, beginning from when Anna woke up and caused it to flurry in her bedroom, till where they were now. “A bit of a pickle we’re in now, aren’t we?” he joked. When he saw that neither one of the two girls were smiling, “Sheesh, tough crowd,” he snorted.

Elsa spoke up. “Mimir, please, we really need your help, and we don’t know how much time we have left before this curse becomes permanent. Grand Pabbie said that you’d be able to help us.”

Mimir smiled. “Ah Grand Pabbie, king of the trolls. I’ve heard good things about him, and I would love to meet him one day, if not for the fact that I’m stuck to this cursed tree. But that’s a story for another time. Tell me, seeing as he was unable to help you, I’m assuming that the both of you weren’t together on the night this happened?”

The sisters nodded simultaneously. 

“Well then, why don’t you tell me exactly what you were doing right before you went to bed that night, eh? That should be a good start.”

Anna went first. “I was in the castle, finishing up some last-minute royal paperwork with Kristoff. And before that, I was busy helping Olaf look for his nose. Of course, I suspected that Sven may have eaten it, so I just handed him a new one and told him that I’d found it. And before that –”

“I think that would be more than enough,” said Mimir. He looked at Elsa. “What about you?”

Elsa remained silent for a while before folding her arms and saying, “I went on a night ride with the Nokk before going to bed that night.”

As she said this, Mimir stared straight at her, his glowing eye unblinking, not saying a word. After what felt like a long time, he said, “I’m sorry, but I won’t help you.”

“What? Why?” asked Anna.

“I’ve said before that I would not share my wisdom to those who are not truthful with me. And as of right now, I strongly believe that I have just been lied to.”

If Anna had been paying close attention to her sister, she would’ve seen Elsa shift uncomfortably where she was standing, but she was too occupied with the animated head in front of her to notice. “What do you mean that you’ve just been lied to?” said Anna, raising her voice. “Why on earth would I lie about doing paperwork in the castle?”

“Calm down there, feisty one. I never said that you were the one who lied to me.”

Anna opened her mouth to argue, but as the realisation of Mimir’s words slowly dawned upon her, she turned to face Elsa, who was now staring at her own feet. “Elsa?” When Elsa did not reply, Anna repeated herself again, the desperation starting to show in her voice.

“Elsa, please tell me that Mimir is wrong. You were telling the truth, right?” Anna’s voice was shaky as she spoke. She wasn’t sure if she would like the answer.

“Anna,” said Elsa in a small voice, “Mimir is right.”

“Wha – what are you talking about?”

“I didn’t go for a night ride with the Nokk. I – I was in Ahtohallan,” said Elsa, who was still avoiding eye contact with Anna.

Anna did not reply immediately. She knew that Elsa would often visit Ahtohallan, because that was where she felt most at home, but why lie about going there now? What was she hiding?

“What were you doing in Ahtohallan?” asked Anna, her voice coming out a little louder than she thought it would. Although she was trying her best to not let her anger show, she couldn’t help it. 

Elsa gave a small sigh. “I was visiting old memories of Mother and Father.”

“But haven’t you already seen memories of them before? The first time you were there?”

“Yes, but those memories were still quite recent. I’ve been going further back into their lives, seeing memories from a much longer time ago.”

“What about the lullaby?” Anna remembered, “‘Not too far or you’ll be drowned’? Remember what happened to you the first time you went too far? You almost died, Elsa!” Anna couldn’t believe what she was hearing from her sister. She began to hear a soft buzzing in her ears.

Elsa glanced at Anna. “I found a way to get around that, and now I can see older memories without being frozen. But that night, when I was going through memories of Mother and Father, I fell unconscious at some point, but the next day I woke up back on my bed in the Northuldra camp. That was when –”

“When you lost your powers.” His sudden remark caused both sisters to look over at Mimir, who had been listening intently all this while. Mimir slowly nodded his head, as though finally understanding what was happening.

But Anna wasn’t keen on hearing what else the Smartest Man Alive had to say. She turned her attention back to her sister. There was something in her eyes now, a mixture of what seemed to be fury, and hurt.

“Let me get this straight,” she said, “the past few weeks when you couldn’t make it to games night, were you actually just sneaking off to Ahtohallan?” Despite already knowing the answer before it came, it still hurt Anna to see Elsa nod her head.

“I –” Anna paused to take a deep breath. She wondered if anyone else could see that she was shaking from head to toe. She could now clearly hear the buzzing in her ears. “I admit, I’ve been pretty busy now that I’m Queen, but no matter how busy I get, I still try my very best to make time for family. And you,” she pointed an accusing finger at her sister, surprising even herself, “you just decided to run off and see our parents without me? Why? I get that you miss them, I do too, all the time, but why would you sacrifice our time together just so you can see them?”

“Anna, I –” began Elsa, but Anna wasn’t done talking.

“After everything that we’ve been through, you’d think that maybe the time we have together would mean something by now.” She could no longer hold it in. The buzzing in her ears was now too loud for her to bear. 

“Anna –”

“For years I’ve just been trying my best to not be shut out, to let each other into our lives. Why would you do this to me? Does the family you have now mean nothing to you? Just tell me one thing, why do you keep visiting Mother and Father in Ahtohallan?”

“Because I still feel like I’m the reason they died!” cried Elsa. “I’m the reason you don’t get to grow up with two loving parents like other normal children do! Ever since you became Queen, you’ve reminded me of Mother more and more each time I look at you, and every time, I just think about how proud they would be to see you as you are now, but I took that away from you. I’m sorry, okay?” said Elsa as she fell down on her knees and broke down into sobs.

Anna stood there, breathing heavily. She thought that Elsa was just visiting their parents because she missed them. She hadn’t known that it was out of guilt that she had gone to Ahtohallan. She took a deep breath, and slowly walked towards Elsa, kneeling down by her side when she had reached her.

“Even after all this time, you still feel guilty?”

“Always. There’s hardly a day that goes by where I don’t find myself thinking about it.”

Gently, Anna wiped the tears off her sister’s face and looked into her eyes. She saw that they were filled with grief. Guilt. Sorrow. Regret.

“Elsa, it’s not your fault that Mother and Father died. Their blood is definitely not on your hands. You have to let go of the past, Elsa, or you won’t have a future.”

“After my first time in Ahtohallan, I thought it was going to be alright, but – over time the feelings came back, and I ended up feeling worse off than when I’d started. I just – it’s too hard, Anna. I can’t.”

“Listen to me Elsa,” said Anna, grabbing the sides of Elsa’s arms, “I know that this is hard for you, but we can get through this. One day at a time. You’ve got to at least promise me that you’ll try. Promise me, Elsa?”

Anna wasn’t really sure how her sister would respond, so she was surprised to be pulled in for a hug, which she eagerly returned. “I’ll try,” sniffed Elsa, “What would I do without you, Anna.”

“You’ll always have me.” And Anna found that there were now tears on her face as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to take this time to thank JLATS for giving me feedback on these chapters! Do check out her work on fanfic.net!


	7. Chapter 7

Anna probably wouldn’t have let go of Elsa if she hadn’t heard Mimir clear his throat just a little too loudly.

“While I may be all up for lovely moments such as these,” said Mimir, with that crooked smile of his, “but I believe that the both of you still have a curse to undo?”

“We do,” said Anna, as she and her sister helped each other onto their feet. “What do we have to do?”

“You see, Ahtohallan is not just a place where memories are found. In fact, Ahtohallan is much more than that. She may also be considered as life’s teacher. So, unless I’m mistaken, which I’m probably not,” chuckled Mimir, “I have reason to believe that Ahtohallan is trying to teach the both of you a lesson.”

“What kind of lesson?” asked Anna.

“A kind that’s not for me to teach, but for Ahtohallan. After she has deemed that you two have learned your lessons, everything should return back to normal.”

“Okay then, off to Ahtohallan we go,” said Anna firmly.

Elsa gave Mimir an earnest look. “Thank you for your help, Mimir.”

“Oh, it’s nothing at all. I’m just glad that the two of you managed to sort things out. Hurry along now, off you go.”

“Um,” said Anna, knotting her eyebrows together, “Quick question. How do we get out of here?”

“Oh yes, that’s right. Almost forgot. Both of you, come place a hand on the trunk of my tree. This way is much easier than going back the way you came.”

Trying not to think about which part of Mimir she was actually touching, Anna awkwardly placed her right hand on the trunk of Mimir’s tree. She looked at Elsa, who was wearing the same look of confusion on her face as she was.

“Now, this might be a little bit uncomfortable, but I assure you it is completely safe. I think.”

“Wait. Wha –?”

“I wish you two the best of luck on your endeavours, Anna and Elsa of Arendelle!” said Mimir, interrupting Anna, “Do come and visit whenever you can!” And that was the last thing Anna heard before she felt herself being pulled by her right hand into nothingness, with darkness pressing in everywhere around her, making it hard for her to breathe.

A split second later, Anna found herself landing hard on her feet and stumbling onto soft grass. She looked up and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that her sister was next to her as well. They were now standing in front of the well they had gone down just a few hours earlier.

“It’s a good thing we didn’t have to go back through that dark tunnel, huh?” said Anna as she picked herself off the ground.

“Yeah. Now let’s get to Ahtohallan.” The sisters mounted their horses simultaneously, and with a kick of their heels, they rode off northwards.

*

They had gone a full day of riding without meeting any obstacles, so Anna wasn’t too surprised to see that their luck had eventually run out. As they had both agreed that they should get to Ahtohallan as fast as they could, they decided that it was best to continue riding through the night. Elsa was the first one to hear the howls.

“Wolves,” she said, turning her head back to look behind them. Although she saw nothing there, they had to be close. Anna took a glance back as well, “We’d better hurry then.”

They continued riding in silence, and the sudden absence of howls caused Anna to worry more and more with each growing second. The woods that they were now riding through suddenly seemed awfully eerie, and Anna wished with all her heart for morning to come soon. As kids, Anna had often heard stories from her parents about wolves that preyed on night-time travellers, attacking them when they least expected it. Plus, Anna also had some first-hand experience with wolves, which was also when she’d first met Kristoff. She smiled at the thought of him, but the smile quickly faded when she wondered how he was doing alone in the castle.

‘The faster we get this over with, the faster I get to see him,’ Anna thought to herself, wondering when they would actually get this over with.

Suddenly, in the corner of her eye, Anna noticed something closing in towards Elsa. Was it just her imagination? Or was she actually looking at a pair of gleaming yellow eyes? Her eyes widened in horror as she realised what was about to happen to Elsa, and she opened her mouth to yell, “Elsa! Watch out!”

But it was already too late for Elsa to react. The wolf, which had been silently running beside them all this while, cloaking itself with the darkness of the woods, had already lunged towards Elsa, baring the shiny knives in its mouth. Anna barely had a split second to react. She instinctively stretched out a hand in the direction of the wolf, and shot out multiple shards of ice, which sent the wolf crashing into the bushes, whimpering loudly as it went.

Elsa raised an eyebrow in amazement. “Nice shot, sis.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” said Anna, looking behind her once more, “Looks like he brought some friends along.” She began shooting more ice shards at them, but now that the wolves knew what to expect, they were nimbly dodging them left and right, and were closing in fast. Any moment now and they would pounce on either one of them, throwing them off their horses. Anna’s brain worked hard to think of a plan. Suddenly, her eyes shone brightly. She let go of her reins and turned herself so that she was now completely facing the wolves.

“Anna, what are you doing?” cried Elsa over the barks of the wolves, who were now only metres away from them.

“This worked for me the last time I tried it. Let’s just hope that it works again,” said Anna, “Come on, magic ice powers, don’t fail me now.” Keeping a steady eye on the wolves, Anna began to twirl her hands in the air, the blue glow of her magic causing their surroundings to light up for a moment. Seconds later, Anna was holding a lute made of ice in her hands. She swung it behind her back, ready to strike.

“An ice lute? For goodness sake, Anna, of all the things you could’ve made –”

“It was the first thing that came to my mind, okay? Now be quiet, I’m trying to concentrate.”

The wolves, noticing that she now had a weapon, turned their attention fully on Anna. ‘Good,’ she thought to herself, ‘at least now they won’t be bothering Elsa.’

Without warning, one of the wolves leapt up towards Anna with its claws outstretched. Anna tilted her head upwards, staring in awe at how high the wolf could jump, when she was suddenly brought back to reality by the cries of her sister.

“Anna! Be careful!”

Snapping back to attention, Anna swung the lute at the airborne wolf with all the energy she could muster, and she smiled to herself at the loud crack she heard when the lute connected with the wolf’s skull.

“Strike one!” she yelled. She turned her attention back to the three other wolves that were still on their tail.

Anna narrowed her eyes menacingly, as though daring the wolves to try and attack her. Just as she expected, another one of them lunged for the attack, only to be sent flying in the opposite direction by Anna and her ice lute.

“Strike two!” Anna looked down at her hands. “Uh oh.” The sheer force at which Anna had used to hit the second wolf had caused the lute to shatter into pieces, and Anna was left with only a small piece of the neck.

Before Anna could fashion another weapon, she noticed that the wolves seemed to have given up on their pursuit of their prey, and she gave her sister a high five as they watched the wolves slink back into the dark of the night. Elsa looked at her sister, whose face was now red from all the adrenaline. “Wow, Anna, you were great back there. Thanks for saving our butts.”

“Sounds like you didn’t think that I could handle myself,” Anna huffed, and pretended to look away angrily.

Elsa laughed at Anna, who was now pouting. “Anna, you know that’s not what I meant. It’s just that – you never fail to amaze me with what you can do.”

“Well, it’s going to take more than just a few compliments to make it up to me.”

“Will some Northuldran chocolate be enough?” said Elsa mischievously. She knew how much Anna loved them. Elsa smiled when she saw the corners of Anna’s lips curl upwards.

“Not fair!” exclaimed Anna, “You know I can’t stay mad at you for long when chocolate is involved!”

Elsa chuckled. “You can have all the Northudran chocolate you want when this is all over.”

“I’d better,” said Anna, who now could not stop the wide grin that was spreading across her face.

*

When they finally made it to the shores of the Dark Sea, the sun had already been up for a fair amount of time. Knowing that Havski and Fjora wouldn’t be able to follow them across the Dark Sea, they left the two horses under a tree to graze at the grass, promising them that they would be back for them soon.

Anna looked out to the Dark Sea. “Didn’t you tell me that you had frozen the Dark Sea and calmed the waters?” asked Anna.

“I did. But the effects of my magic must’ve worn off when I lost my powers. The waves are still calm though, that’s good.”

“Alright then,” Anna rubbed her hands together eagerly. “Where’s the Nokk?”

“Um, Anna, you’ll have to summon him to us.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, well, you do have my powers now, so I think you should be the one to summon him. Besides, you are the other half of the Bridge, after all.”

“Oh, um, okay then. So, how do I summon him?” asked Anna, scratching the back of her head as she looked at her sister.

“You just do it,” said Elsa nonchalantly as she shrugged.

Anna scrunched up her face. “Just do it? What do you mean, just do it?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Anna. Technically you already have a connection with the Nokk, so all you have to do is call out to him, and he’ll come.”

Anna rubbed her chin nervously. “Okay. Here goes.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Hello? Nokk? Are you there?”

It took everything Elsa had to stop herself from laughing out loud. She knew she shouldn’t, Anna was probably trying her very best, but she just couldn’t help it. She turned away quickly to stifle a laugh.

Luckily, this went unnoticed by Anna as she kept on trying. “Heeelloo? Nokk? Anna here. Part of the Fifth Spirit, remember? My sister and I kind of need your help to get over to Ahtohallan.”

By now, Elsa was pinching herself so hard that it had started to hurt, so it was a good thing that the Nokk came when it did. There was a splash of water, and the majestic water horse trotted up to them, holding his head up high in a rather regal manner.

“Yes! It actually worked! Hi there, Nokk!” said Anna excitedly as she ran up to the water spirit and began to give it gentle pats on the nose. The Nokk, delighted at this sudden display of affection, nuzzled Anna’s palm lovingly.

Elsa was smiling so hard at the sight before her that tears began to form in her eyes. It was nice to see her sister interact with the spirits, which was something she didn’t get to do any other day as she often had her queenly duties to attend to.

After the sisters got on to the Nokk’s back, they were off to Ahtohallan, the wind blowing their hair back as the Nokk picked up speed as they went along. 

“Hey Elsa,” said Anna, “you never told me how you managed to get around the lullaby’s warning. How exactly could you visit older memories without freezing up?”

“It’s pretty simple, actually. All I have to do is lower my body temperature so that it becomes really cold. That way, I won’t freeze up, because Ahtohallan already thinks that I’m frozen.”

Anna’s jaw dropped. “Woah, you can do that? I didn’t know that you could, you know, become colder.”

“I didn’t know at first too. I only recently found out that I could do that about a month ago. That’s when –”

“That’s when you stopped coming for games night.”

Elsa bit her lip. “Yeah. Listen, Anna, I’m –”

“It’s okay, Elsa. So, what kind of memories of Mother and Father have you seen about them so far?” asked Anna.

Elsa let out a sigh, more than happy to change the subject. “So far I’ve only seen bits and pieces of their lives when they were much younger. Some from when before they had even met in the Enchanted Forest. But I never really go too far into their lives at once,” Elsa dropped her gaze, “I don’t think I could bear to see too much of them at a time, you know? So that’s usually when –” Elsa paused for a moment, which caught Anna’s attention, causing her to turn and look at her. “That’s when I would bring up memories of the both of us. Happy memories. Those memories would never fail to comfort me.”

Anna couldn’t help but smile as she heard this. “We did have some great times together, didn’t we?” Anna sighed.

“And we will continue to make more happy memories now, in the present,” said Elsa, her voice full of determination, and then she sighed, “I’m sorry about all this, Anna. I never wanted your first visit to Ahtohallan to be like this. I should’ve brought you a long time ago.”

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up too much about it, Elsa. We’re on our way there together now, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” said Elsa as she smiled lovingly at her little sister, “Together.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Woah,” said Anna as her jaw dropped to the floor.

The sisters had arrived at Ahtohallan and were now standing in a large and spacious ice cavern. It was like nothing Anna had ever laid her eyes on. Elsa had described the place to her before, but this was way better than she’d imagined. Everywhere she looked, light was constantly being refracted by the icy walls, radiating a familiar blueish glow which gave the cavern a serene feel to it. Elsa smiled as she watched Anna dash around the cavern like a child, commenting on every little thing she saw.

“Look at these cool patterns! They look just like the elemental symbols!” exclaimed Anna.

“They do,” chuckled Elsa. “You know, I’m actually quite surprised that you never asked to come along to Ahtohallan before.”

Anna gave Elsa a nervous glance. “Yeah, well, I’ve always wanted to, but I was always too afraid. It felt like I would be intruding in your sacred place, or something like that.”

Elsa raised her eyebrows and gave Anna a soft expression. “Anna, Ahtohallan doesn’t belong to me. I don’t own the place. You have every right to come here just as I do. If only you hadn’t kept this from me and had told me instead.”

“I guess that’s something I learned from you, huh?” joked Anna, who immediately received a friendly punch on the arm from her elder sister. They both laughed and continued to make their way further into Ahtohallan. As they were walking through a narrow ice tunnel, something odd caught Anna’s eye.

“Elsa, you’re shivering!”

“I ne-never realised how c-cold this place was,” Elsa chattered through her teeth as she hugged her sides, but nevertheless she gave Anna a reassuring smile to let her know that she would be okay.

Anna frowned at her sister. There had to be something she could do. “Ooh! Here, put this over yourself,” said Anna as she pulled out their mother’s purple scarf from her travel bag. She threw it over Elsa and wrapped her tightly in it. “This will have to do for now, I guess. You feel any better?”

“Yeah. Thank you,” said Elsa gratefully. The scarf didn’t really do much to keep the cold out, but just the thought being close to something that had once belonged to her mother made Elsa feel warm inside.

After passing a series of tunnels and caverns, all of which Anna gasped in awe at, they finally arrived at a huge, frosted dome – the place where Ahtohallan kept her memories. The dome was made up of an arrangement of complex geometrical shapes, and within each of those shapes, Anna could see different moments from the past being played out before her. But what really captured Anna’s attention was the fact that she was now standing in a room filled with people that were made from snow. These people were spread out in little groups, and they seemed oblivious to the fact that there were other people around them. Upon having a closer look, Anna saw that most of these little groups contained either herself, Elsa, or someone else that they knew.

“These are all separate events that have occurred in the past,” said Elsa.

“Wow, you know, if we didn’t have this whole curse thing to undo, I think I could be here for hours,” said Anna. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she heard a familiar voice.

_“Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles.”_

“Hans,” muttered Anna. She turned her head in the direction of the voice, and saw that unredeemable monster bowing in front of a younger Anna, the first time that they met each other. Anna was filled with a sudden rage from the sight of Hans. She marched on over, and, with a murderous look on her face, she gave the snow statue the exact same sucker punch she had given the real Hans during their last encounter. “Take that! And that!” yelled Anna as she continued kicking at the pile of rubble which only seconds ago had resembled Hans.

“Easy there, feistypants,” grunted Elsa as she tried to hold Anna back. “How about we go and find what we’re looking for first, and when we’re done, then we can go back to beating up Hans, okay?”

“Fine,” huffed Anna. But the sisters didn’t even get to walk ten steps before something else managed to distract Anna once again. This time, however –

 _“Hi, I’m Olaf, and I like warm hugs!”_ said a child’s voice. That child was Elsa. And a little Anna stumbled over and said, _“I love you, Olaf!”_

“Aww! Was this really us when we were little?” asked Anna. After she had her memories removed by Grand Pabbie, Anna could only rely on the stories Elsa told her about the things they used to do together as children. But now, she could finally see them play out before her without trying to imagine it. She felt her insides melt as she was fixated on the precious moment that was being shared between the two children, and tears began to form in her eyes. Anna felt Elsa gently place a hand on her shoulder.

“Forget Hans,” said Anna, “I want to see more of us.”

“And we will. As soon as we finish what we came here for.” Elsa gave Anna a meaningful look, which Anna returned with a frown a few seconds later. She tore herself away from the memory before her, and forced herself to continue moving on.

*

“This is where I was before I jumped,” said Elsa.

They were now standing in front of a small icy opening, which led down to a steep drop. From where they were standing, Anna could just barely make out tiny little snow figures moving at the bottom.

“I think Ahtohallan has added something new down there,” said Elsa as she pointed a finger. “Look!”

Anna squinted her eyes, and saw what Elsa was pointing at. It was a version of Elsa that looked pretty much like the one standing beside her right now. The snow statue of Elsa walked around for a while, before falling to the ground, unconscious.

“Was that the memory of you the last time you were here?” asked Anna.

“Yes.” Elsa frowned and furrowed her eyebrows.

“Well, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” said Elsa in a defeated tone. “We can’t risk going back down there. Without my powers, I know that I’ll freeze up for sure, and I don’t want whatever that happened to me earlier to happen to you. We’ve kind of hit a dead end.”

Anna bit her lip and thought hard. She simply couldn’t bear the thought of her sister feeling so dejected. “How about we walk around for a bit? Maybe Ahtohallan has added more new memories around here that could help us,” said Anna. Elsa nodded in agreement. “Yeah, good idea.”

And so, Anna and Elsa began to look around Ahtohallan, hoping to catch any clues that might help them. Anna took the time to stop and look at each and every memory, not just to look for clues, but also to appreciate the minute details of the memories that were long since lost in the past. They passed by memory after memory. Some were significant ones, and some Anna couldn’t even recall them ever happening before. They were laughing at the bald spot on the Duke of Weselton when Anna heard something. “Hey, Elsa, are you…singing?”

_“Here I stand, in the light of day!”_

The elder sister realised what was happening and hastily said, “Oh, I – I don’t think it’s anything important, so we should probably keep moving.”

Anna’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped when she saw that the source of the beautiful singing voice was none other than her sister, Elsa, strutting confidently with both arms outstretched at her sides. Anna turned and gave Elsa a mischievous grin. “When did this happen? I’ve never heard you sing like that before!”

Elsa, who was now turning red, sheepishly said, “This was when I was alone on top of the North Mountain.” Anna laughed when she saw Elsa cover her face in embarrassment. “Amazing. You went all the way up to the North Mountain just to belt out some high notes?” teased Anna.

“You better not tell anyone about this.” Elsa narrowed her eyes and pouted, which made Anna laugh even harder. “I still can’t believe it,” snorted Anna as she wiped a tear off her face, “this must be so embarrassing for you!”

_“Our mental synchronisation, can have but one explanation.”_

Anna’s eyes widened once more, but this time out of shock rather than amazement. “Oh no, this memory is here as well?” cried Anna in horror. She was now staring at the two statues of herself and Hans dancing on top of a clock tower, and then proceeded to bury her face in her hands.

“Yup,” said Elsa gleefully, “I still can’t believe you just fell head over heels like that for a complete stranger.”

“Okay but in my defence, that was the first time that the gates were opened, plus, he seemed like a nice guy at the time. How was I supposed to know that he would turn out to be some crazy psychopath?”

“Still, you can’t just go around marrying people you just met,” said Elsa. “But I’m glad that you’ve learned your lesson, right Anna?” A sudden silence filled the atmosphere.

“Hey, where did you go?” Elsa now turned to look for her sister, who had been standing beside her a few seconds ago. She finally found Anna a little way off, standing absolutely still.

“Anna?” said Elsa again. She was now starting to get worried. She hurried over to Anna’s side, and her throat went dry when she saw what Anna was looking at.

It was a memory of the day of their parents’ funeral. There, standing between two large tombstones, stood a little girl, all alone. Elsa had not attended the funeral that day for fear of letting her powers get out of control, and now she felt terrible for leaving the poor 15-year-old Anna all alone.

“Anna, I’m right here for you, okay? You’re not alone anymore,” said Elsa.

But Anna was deaf to Elsa’s words. She merely continued walking on in silence, turning her head left and right only to see memories of all the times she stood outside of Elsa’s bedroom door, being ignored.

‘It’s all in the past now,’ Anna repeated over and over again to herself. She was so busy with her thoughts that she nearly bumped into a memory. She looked up and found herself standing in front of her parents, who appeared to be discussing something.

 _“From now on, we have to keep Elsa in her room, it’s too dangerous,”_ said Agnarr.

 _“But what about Anna?”_ said Iduna.

_“We can’t let her know about Elsa’s powers. It would be too dangerous for her.”_

_“They’re sisters, we can’t possibly separate them.”_

_“We don’t have a choice. You heard what Grand Pabbie said earlier. Elsa’s powers are dangerous. We have to keep her powers hidden from everyone…including Anna.”_

Anna felt herself trembling from head to toe, and it wasn’t because of the cold, she couldn’t feel that. In fact, she couldn’t feel anything at all. She’d always known that it was for the best that she was kept apart from her sister, but to be reminded of these moments all together at once, it was simply too much for her to bear. Her legs crumpled beneath her weight as Anna mustered all her strength to try and control her breathing.

‘It’s all in the past. It’s all in the past.’

“Anna, listen to me,” said Elsa as she saw that snowflakes were now beginning to whirl violently around them. “No one is shutting you out anymore, do you hear me, Anna?”

“Y-yeah, I know,” said Anna. She tried her best to block out the horrible memories she’d just seen, but it was impossible.

“Alright, now take my hand. We’ll do this together, one step at a time, okay?”

Anna turned to face her sister, and Elsa saw that her eyes were filled with tears. “Elsa? W-why am I starting to feel cold? I-I shouldn’t be feeling c-cold, right?” said Anna.

It wasn’t until Elsa noticed that Anna’s limbs were now slowly turning into ice that she remembered Grand Pabbie’s warning.

_“Anna’s powers will continue to grow until it overwhelms her, and eventually consume her.”_

“No!” cried Elsa as she flung herself forwards and grabbed her sister by the arm, desperate to pull her away from all of this. However, Anna stayed rooted to the ground, her hair was now a snowy white colour, and the ice had already spread across most of her body. Elsa felt her forearm stiffen and looked down in horror as she realised that when she’d touched Anna, the ice had also made its way up her arm, and was slowly starting to freeze her as well. Elsa’s eyes darted around in panic, trying to come up with a plan, but her mind had gone completely blank. Her eyes landed upon her sister’s, which were looking at her sorrowfully.

“I’m sorry, Elsa.”

“Anna.”

And that was the last thing the sisters said to each other before they went completely still, frozen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the final one! I really do hope that you guys have enjoyed reading this story so far! :)
> 
> P/S: It might be some time before I actually post the last chapter, because I'm trying to get it right, so I hope you guys bear with me!


	9. Chapter 9

She was dead. She had to be dead. If not, where could she possibly be? Anna opened her eyes very slowly, as though it would hurt her if she opened them too fast. At first, she thought that she’d gone blind, because she saw nothing but white all around her, but quickly dismissed that idea and gasped when she saw Elsa laying still on the ground behind her. Seeing her sister promptly reminded Anna of what had just happened to them in Ahtohallan.

“Elsa! Are you okay?” said Anna as she grabbed the sides of her sister’s arms and began shaking her violently, fearing the worst. “No, no, no, wake up Elsa. Please tell me you’re okay.” When Elsa still did not move, Anna began to shake her even harder, tears streaming down her face. “Please, please. I can’t live without you, Elsa.”

“And I can’t live if you keep on shaking me like that,” groaned Elsa as her eyes fluttered open.

Upon hearing the sound of her sister’s voice, Anna let out a huge sigh of relief. “Oh! Thank goodness you’re okay! I’m so sorry, Elsa, when I saw that you weren’t moving, I thought that I had, I had…” But Anna couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence.

Elsa seemed to understand this, and she gave Anna a reassuring squeeze. “It’s alright. I know that you would never intentionally hurt me.” This seemed to comfort Anna, and she started to blink back her tears.

Grabbing on to Anna’s hand for support, Elsa slowly stood up and looked around her. “Woah, what happened to our clothes?”

Anna looked down and realised for the first time that they were no longer wearing their travel outfits. Instead, they seemed to be draped in clothes that were as white as pure snow. She dragged her fingers across the material, which was silky smooth. It felt strangely warm to the touch, and yet it also gave off a cool sensation. “I don’t know, but these are pretty nice!”

“Where are we?” asked Elsa.

“I have no idea.” Anna looked around, trying to get a better sense of where they were, but in every direction that she looked, all she saw was a white expanse. Even looking down at her feet made her feel disoriented, because it looked like she was standing on nothing at all, yet she knew she had to be standing on something, because she was not falling down. Everything about that place felt strange, but not in a bad way.

Hand in hand, the sisters slowly walked around this strange new place. Anna secretly hoped that they would bump into someone who could tell them where they were, but deep down inside she had a feeling that they were the only ones here. Until she saw two blurry shapes in the distance.

At first Anna thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her, so she squinted her eyes to try and get a better look. “Hey Elsa, is it just me, or does it look like there’s two people up front over there?”

“I see them too,” said Elsa.

“Well then, let’s go up to them and ask for help,” said Anna, but before she managed to take a step, she felt Elsa tighten her grip around her arm. Anna looked up and saw that her sister’s eyes were full of worry.

“What if they’re bad people?” hissed Elsa. “You have to remember, Anna, we still have no idea where we are.”

“I know, I know. But we really do need to know what happened to us and where we are. I say we go up to them, but we prepare to run in case anything goes south, okay?”

Elsa nodded in agreement. As the two proceeded with caution, the blurry figures slowly became more and more solid. They were now only a few metres away, and their mouths fell open when they saw who the two figures were.

Elsa was the first to break the stunned silence. “Anna, that’s, that’s –”

“Mama! Papa!” cried Anna as she ran into the loving embrace of their parents.

“Oh, my sweet, sweet Anna,” said Agnarr as he cuddled his youngest daughter.

Elsa merely just stood there, too stunned to do anything. Was she really standing before her parents? Where did they come from? Where had they been all this time? A thousand thoughts flooded her mind at once. “Is it really you?” she asked apprehensively.

Iduna looked up towards Elsa and smiled as she extended an arm towards her first-born. “Elsa,” she said in that tender voice that Elsa didn’t realise she had missed so much.

And just like that, Elsa couldn’t help but throw herself into the tangle of joy which was her family, squeezing them all so tightly till she felt that her arms were going to break off.

After what felt like a blissful eternity to Elsa, her parents finally pulled away from the hug, and Elsa found herself already longing for more. “It’s been awhile,” said Iduna, as she looked down proudly at her two daughters.

“How –” Elsa bit her lip as she contemplated asking the question that had been scratching its way out of her mind since the moment she saw her parents. “How are the two of you alive?”

“My dear,” said Agnarr, “life and death do not hold any meaning where we are right now.”

“Are Anna and I dead, then?” asked Elsa nervously. She wasn’t entirely sure if she would like to know the answer to her question.

“Well that depends on you, doesn’t it?” said Agnarr, which only added to Elsa’s confusion. “But enough talk about that. I believe that you two have much to tell us since we’ve been gone. Come.” Agnarr led his family over to a nearby sofa which Elsa hadn’t noticed earlier. Did it just appear out of thin air? But she didn’t have time to care about that right now, she was with her family, and that was all that mattered then.

When the four of them had finally cuddled close against each other, the two sisters began to tell their parents everything that had happened in their lives. They did not leave out a single detail, telling their parents everything there was to know about all the adventures they had together.

Their parents listened intently, giving the appropriate responses every now and then, shaking their heads in anger at Hans and sighing in relief that Arendelle was not destroyed. When the sisters finally stopped talking, Agnarr and Iduna said nothing. They just looked at their two children, with tears in their eyes as they swelled with pride at how much they had accomplished.

“We’ve missed you,” said Anna, “so very, very much.”

Agnarr rubbed a loving hand across Anna’s cheek. “And we’ve missed the two of you just as much.”

“We could’ve spent more time together like this. If it weren’t for me,” said Elsa as she looked guiltily at her feet.

Iduna gave a knowing glance towards her husband, and then turned to face Elsa. She placed a hand under Elsa’s chin, and lifted her face up so that they made eye contact. Elsa saw that her mother looked heartbroken, guilty, even. “Elsa. Please don’t blame yourself for what happened to us. The decisions we made were of our own account, you had nothing to do with our deaths.” Elsa opened her mouth to argue, but Iduna kept on going. “We love the both of you, with all our hearts. And we know that you two fully reciprocate that love as well. There is nothing, nothing I say, that you can do that would cause us to love you any less.”

And at those words, Elsa felt as though she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She broke down into tears as her mother wrapped her up in another hug yet again. All of her life, Elsa had been constantly shrouded with the ‘what if’s’ and the ‘could be’s’, but after hearing what her mother just said, Elsa felt as though a heavy weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders.

After a while, Elsa mustered her strength to pull herself together, and she looked at both her parents and said, “Thank you.” Her parents said nothing in reply, but just nodded their heads understandingly.

Anna was looking at her family in front of her, when she suddenly began to weep, which shocked her parents and her sister. However, Elsa didn’t need an explanation as to why her sister was acting that way. And it seemed as though their parents knew exactly why as well. This time, Agnarr was the one who spoke.

“Anna, I know that there’s no way we can change the past now. But if we had the chance to do it all over again, we wouldn’t have shut you out from anything. We see now that it was wrong for us to separate the two of you. We only did what we thought was best for the both of you at that time. In no way did we shut you out because we thought you were incapable of handling anything, Anna. The love you have inside of you is so great it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before, and you’ve witnessed for yourself how far that has brought you. It brought your sister out from isolation, and it saved Arendelle. Elsa may be the one with magical powers, but your ability to love makes you just as strong, if not stronger.”

Anna said nothing, all she could do was nod at her parents with a smile on her face as tears continued to flow down her face. Iduna and Agnarr looked from Elsa to Anna, and said in unison, “We love you.” And the family pulled in for another hug.

*

Anna and Elsa felt like they could stay here forever, living out the rest of their lives together with their parents. But something told them that their time together was soon coming to a close. “We can’t stay here forever, can we?” asked Anna.

Iduna smiled. “No one is forcing you to do anything. Whether you stay here, or return back to your lives, it is completely your choice to make.”

“Then why do I get the feeling that Elsa and I aren’t going to be staying here?” Anna pouted, which made all of them laugh.

“That’s because you know that you still have duties in your lives that still need to be carried out,” said Agnarr.

“Will we be able to come back here to see you again?” asked Elsa.

“You won’t have to come back here to visit us,” said Iduna, as she raised both her hands and pointed at Anna and Elsa’s chests. “We’ll always be right here, waiting for you whenever you need us.”

Anna took a deep breath. “We’ll miss you.”

“We’ll miss you too,” said Agnarr, who was now holding his wife close to his side.

At that moment, the sisters seemed to know exactly what to do. After giving their parents one final hug, Anna and Elsa held each other’s hands, and nodded at each other. They were ready to leave.

The last thing Anna heard before she was blinded by a bright light was her mother saying, “We’ll always be here for you.”

*

When Anna opened her eyes, she found herself on the floor of the frosted dome in Ahtohallan. Elsa had already gotten up on her feet and was now offering a hand to help Anna up. As she stood up, Anna found herself shivering uncontrollably. “G-give me that s-scarf, Elsa.” As she was wrapping herself up and trying to get warm, Anna’s eyes widened as the realisation dawned upon her.

“Elsa! I’m cold!”

Her elder sister cocked an eyebrow and gave Anna a blank expression. Elsa clearly had no idea what she was going on about.

“I’m cold,” repeated Anna, “and you’re not!”

“Uh huh. Oh!” exclaimed Elsa, as she too realised what this meant. She raised a hand, and with a flick of her wrist, Elsa sent snowflakes bursting through the air around them. “You have your magic again!” cried Anna, who was practically jumping with joy. She threw her arms around Elsa, who squeezed her back tightly. The two looked into each other’s eyes and sighed with relief. The curse had been undone.

“Whew! What a day, am I right?” said Anna. They had made their way out of Ahtohallan and were now standing at the entrance.

“Let’s go home now, shall we?” said Elsa. She looked out towards the Dark Sea, and within seconds, the Nokk leapt out of the water, ready to bring the sisters wherever they wanted to go.

Anna’s jaw fell. “How did you do that without saying anything?”

“Didn’t I tell you? You can summon the spirits the same way you do with magic. All you have to do is think hard and concentrate,” said Elsa, who was now smirking.

“You didn’t tell me any of that! You just let me yell out like some idiot!” said Anna as she began to chase after her sister, who immediately ran to hide behind the Nokk. The water horse was confused as to what was happening around him, but the sisters seemed laughing at whatever it was that they were doing, so he merely just stood there patiently.

After Anna had contented herself with a few jabs at Elsa, the two finally decided to mount the Nokk, and began riding back to Arendelle. “Mother and Father never really left us, did they?” asked Anna.

“I guess not. But I wouldn’t worry about that, because I already have the family that I need. I have Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, but most importantly, I have you, Anna, and nothing will ever change that. I love you.”

“I love you too, Elsa,” said Anna as she gave her sister a tight squeeze from behind. “You coming for games night tonight?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the story! Hope you guys enjoyed reading it! I just want to say thank you to those for taking the time to read this, comment on this, and even giving a kudos on this! It really means a lot to me. Hopefully I'll have more works to share with you guys in the future! :D


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